After Lenin's death, the leaders of the Communist Party strongly disagreed with each other on several issues. By the late 1920s Stalin had got rid of Trotsky and his other rivals, but he was still suspicious of potentially disloyal members of the party.Since the Communist Party came to power, it periodically "purged" its membership, getting rid of disloyal members. Now Stalin began to plan a purge of the top levels of the party, to deal with his rivals.
He started with technical experts who were blamed for the failure of the first five year plan. He expelled and imprisoned many members and sent some into exile. Millions of Russian citizens were executed. The purges lasted from 1934 to 1938 and at least 7 million people disappeared, including Bolshevik leaders, writers, poets and anyone who Stalin disliked. Managers of industry, scientists and engineers were also purged for not meeting their targets.
Stalin wanted to show the rest of Russia that he was being fair with his executions by using show trials. These included party members admitting to a variety of imaginary crimes against the state, like sabotage and treason, those who would not confess were persuaded by torture and threats against their families. The results of the trials were announced to the world, 36 Bolsheviks were executed in 1936-8Stalin used the secret police to crush any potential opposition. Thousands of people were arrested and shot, the official Soviet records show that nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1937-8. Victims of the police state who were not executed for their crimes were usually sent to labour camps, found in some of the most remote areas of the Soviet Union. The prisoners were used as slave labour and many did not survive the harsh conditions.
By 1938 the terror was beginning to have severe effects on the economy. The numbers of business managers and workers that disappeared meant that many organisations were struggling. Stalin decided to end the Great Terror. Before he did this, he turned on the secret police and had many of the leading officers shot.
In the Soviet Union under Stalin, people were not allowed to think for themselves, they were told by the state. Pupils were taught the communist version of history and various communist theories. Propaganda influenced almost every aspect of life, through radio, films and newspapers. Posters and messages issued by the state could be found everywhere, in the streets, workplaces and schools.One of the most important propaganda messages was that Stalin was a superior being.
The Soviet people were taught to believe that Stalin was all-powerful and all-knowing. He was said to be the wisest man of the 20th century and he was never wrong. He was like a god to the Soviet people and images and statues of him were everywhere. There would be posters showing him talking to ordinary people and children, and opening factories, which made people respect him.Stalin was determined to modernise the Soviet Union.
He was concerned about capitalist powers invading and destroying communism if the country did not build up its economic strength. Collectivisation was an attempt to get rid of ownership of land by ordinary people. Stalin wanted to sell wheat abroad in return for money to develop technology. This was an attempt to solve the food problem in Russia. There were two types of collective farm set, firstly, Sovkhoz. This was a state owned farm, where the workers were paid wages.
There was also Kolkhoz. This was a collective farm where workers were allowed to keep some plots of land. Results were impressive. Better education, housing, medical treatment was available, along with some social security benefits.
There were disadvantages though, including a seven day working week, absence from work was a crime, pay was not always good and the secret police forced people to work.Industry was modernised through a series of Five Year Plans. The state set unrealistic targets, forcing workers to work as hard as they could. Even though this was tough on the workers, within a decade the Soviet Union had become a major industrial power. It is impossible to be sure of the Soviet Union's achievements during the Five Year Plans. Statistics released by the Soviet government were unreliable because of propaganda.
I think all of these factors helped Stalin hold on to power in the Soviet Union, but the most important was his economic policies. He turned the Soviet Union into a highly developed industrial power by forcing people to work hard. Propaganda was also very important because it made people believe that all the slave labourers wanted to work in such harsh conditions because of their loyalty to Stalin. This helped him gain more respect.
